Messenger Visual, a pictogram-based instant messaging service for individuals with cognitive disability

Autor/a:

Tuset Peiró, Pere

Otros autores:

Cervelló Pastor, Cristina

Abstract:

Along history disabled individuals have suffered from social exclusion due to the limitations posed by their condition. For instance, deaf people are not able to watch television programs because of their sensory limitation. Despite this situation has improved thanks
to the efforts in adapting the different services —today the majority of television programs offer subtitles or simultaneous translation to sign language—, the arrival of the Internet, as well as the rest of the information and communication technologies, poses new risks to the inclusion of disabled individuals.
Taking into account the present digital exclusion situation of disabled individuals this project presents Messenger Visual, an Instant Messaging service based on pictograms for individuals with cognitive disability. Messenger Visual is composed of two different parts. On the one hand, the Instant Messaging service has been designed considering the requirements of communication based on pictograms. On the other hand, the Instant Messaging client has been designed taking into account the user interface usability requirements of
individuals with cognitive disability.
Finally, the project presents the methodology that we have used to evaluate Messenger Visual with a group of individuals with cognitive disability, as well as the results we have obtained.
The evaluation process has lasted for six months and one-hour fortnightly sessions
have been held with two groups of individuals from Fundació El Maresme with different cognitive disability profiles. These sessions have allowed us to gain better understanding of the user interface accessibility requirements, as well as to know how individuals with cognitive disability communicate using pictograms.